Their is no question that Gardenhire is a good manager.  He has after all won 90+ games in four of his five seasons as manager and won the division every one of those years.  But, he’s only 6-15 (.286) over his career in the post season and he just has to get better at some point.  Gardenhire’s career regular season record is 455-354 (.562) in five seasons with the Twins.

The Twins had the best bullpen in all of baseball last season and it looks like they will again this year.  32 year old Joe Nathan is back to slam the door on opposing offenses again in 2007.  He was 7-0 with 36 saves, a 1.58 ERA and a 0.79 WHIP in 64 games for the Twins last season.  Batters were helpless against Nathan as they only hit .158 against him (righties .130, lefties .193) and he only walked 16 batters in 68.1 innings.  Nathan also only allowed 3 homers and whiffed an amazing 95 batters.  Look for Nathan to save 40+ games this season as long as the Twins rotation gets enough leads to the bullpen this year.

28 year old righty Juan Rincon had another outstanding season as the main set-up man for the Twins.  He was 3-1 with 26 holds, 1 save, a 2.91 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP in 75 games last season for the Twins.  Batters hit .270 against him last season but he only walked 24 batters in 74.1 innings and that helped his cause.  He whiffed 65 batters and only allowed 2 homers in 74.1 innings in 2006.  Look for him to have another solid season for the Twins in 2007.

25 year old righty Jesse Crain found his 2nd season to be a little tougher than his rookie year.  He was 4-5 with 10 holds, 1 save, a 3.52 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP in 68 games last season.  Batters hit .262 against him but he only walked 18 batters in 76.2 innings so that helped him with damage control.  Look for Crain to bounce back and have a really good season in 2007 for the Twins.

26 year old righty Pat Neshek is a downright nasty pitcher.  He was 4-2 with 10 holds, a 2.19 ERA and a 0.78 WHIP in 32 games for the Twins as a rookie last season.  Batters only hit .176 against him last season and he only walked 6 batters in 37 innings while whiffing 53 of them.  Neshek brings big-time heat from a low angle and it makes it almost impossible for righthanded hitters to pick the ball up.  Look for him to have another outstanding season in 2007.

Soon to be 30 year old Dennys Reyes had a breakout season for the Twins last year.  He was 5-0 with 16 holds, a 0.89 ERA and a 0.99 WHIP in 66 games for the Twins last season.  Batters only hit .197 (lefties .148) against him last season and he whiffed 49 batters in 50.2 innings.  Look for him to have another good season for the Twins, but maybe not quite as good as he was in 2006.

28 year old righty Matt Guerrier is the mop up man for the Twins, but even he is actually a good pitcher.  He was 1-0 with 2 holds, 1 save, a 3.36 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP in 39 games (1 start) in 2006 for the Twins.  Batters hit .287 against him with 9 homers in 69.2 innings so maybe the ERA was a little lucky.  Still, he has an important job eating innings so the Twins can save their best pitchers for when it really counts.

The Twins were going to send Choate to the minors and let him work his way back to the majors, but he elected to become a free agent instead.  He pitched in 7 games for the Twins this Spring and he was 0-1 with a 8.22 ERA and he allowed 16 base runners in only 7.2 innings.  Choate is lucky he’s lefthanded or he probably would be out of baseball already.

The Twins really liked Machado and planned to keep him as Jason Bartlett’s backup.  Machado was a Rule 5 pickup from the Washington Nationals.  He will likely miss the whole 2007 season as he will undergo surgery soon for a torn right labrum in his shoulder.

Lew Ford will miss the first 2-4 weeks with torn cartilage in his right knee.  This will open up more playing time for sparkplug Jason Tyner, who’s a fan favorite.  Still, Ford is a better baseball player than Tyner and will likely get all of his playing time back when he gets healthy.